- Oh, hi, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- I'm Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- And together we are the most famous physical therapist
on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course, fencing too.
- That's right.
- Okay well what's the subject today?
- Okay. We're gonna talk
about canes , Brad.
And not necessarily, you know
maybe you're choosing this cane
for yourself or maybe you're choosing it for one
of your parents or an in-law or something like that.
Brad and I are both in that situation now where
we've had to fit parents or in-laws with
with gate aids because they've lost their balance.
So we're gonna talk about just canes today
because there's a whole variety of them
and some of them give more stability
than others and there's some that are appropriate
in certain instances and not others.
So why don't we start talk about, Brad,
probably just the standard cane.
- You want to start with the cane.
- Don't you think?
- I wanna just start with a Hemi Walker.
I don't want to start with the cane.
- Whatever you on do.
- Well then the Hemi Walker
this is what the Hemi Walker looks like.
It's a pretty, you know
it's pretty big.
- Hemi means half.
- Yeah.
Half of a Walker.
It's a half of a Walker and what's cool
about it is you don't need both hands to use.
- Right. Right.
- I think the Hemi Walker, we don't need to spend a lot
of time on if you're gonna have a Hemi Walker
you're gonna have already seen a therapist more than likely.
- Yeah.
- And get this prescribed from you.
The height adjustment is the same as with the cane.
When you stand up tall, you let your arm
down and the grip should go right
about at the crease of the wrist.
It can go up or down a little bit
but that's the general rule of thumb and these fold up.
- Yeah.
- And they can get put away.
But one thing about these is they're very big and bulky
and it is someone that usually I usually use these
most of the people has had a stroke.
- That's exactly right.
- And the person would need,
- they really need to lean over.
- Yeah.
- They really need to rely on.
- Exactly. Not really use very much in public.
It's just not a real commonly
- I wouldn't even see most people that need this,
a lot of them can't even walk on their own.
- Right.
- They're having to lean on so much
so you're afraid they're gonna fall over.
- So that is our,
we'll just kind of put this off to the side.
You're good.
- Let you know, that's there.
- Yep. Step down from that would be what we
call the quad cane quad meeting four, it's got four tips
on the bottom here to provide more stability.
A lot of people look at these and they
they find them desirable because they think it
it gives me more stability and it does.
- Right.
- And what's nice about it
doesn't fall over when you let it stand.
- That's a big plus.
- That's a big plus because canes are always falling over.
You'll find out, well
if you need to use them or have somebody use
them. The problem with that I see with these
Brad is sometimes when you're walking and they hit.
- Yep.
- There's just not that stability.
Especially if you're trying to walk
with any speed, you know,
they hit clonk they're regularly and you know
if you're walking fairly slow
you can put them down and hit stable.
- Yeah.
- But I would say that's probably
the biggest fault I find with them.
- Right.
- And they have once, by the way
claw canes with the legs much more spread out too.
- They call it a large base quad.
- Oh they do?
- Yeah. So you'll see a much larger base
but they're more clumsy too.
One thing that you'll notice, if you look in close here
see how the main shaft is offset to one side
the feet are more over to this side and this side.
It's really important when the person uses it
this is set up to be on this side.
So can you come down here?
- So this is for a right-handed person right now.
- Right.
So if they're walking here, it should be offset like this.
If you did it this way, you can see more potential to trip
get your toe bumps on there
and obviously have a follow risk.
And we want to minimize that.
So make sure it's that way.
- Luckily all these can be changed.
- Yes. And how you change up Bob?
Well, it took me a while.
- The first time I ever did this, you just unscrew it.
- I gotta get another one for a right-handed person.
- And then you push the button in and then you just
flip it all the way around the button reappears
on the other side.
- It's like magic.
- Yeah. It's like magic of fun.
And now this is set up for a lefthanded right person.
- Now one thing I wanna point out, this is a really
minor point and it really doesn't need to be brought up
but people always think you have to have the cane like this
but I don't know why you can't walk like this.
- That's true.
- It's pretty much the same thing.
And then you don't have to do that.
- You don't have to make the adjustment.
- Right. If you cannot adjust it
because your fingers aren't strong enough or I've
had these that they're so old, you cannot use them.
- Yeah.
- But if they're that old
you should get a new one probably.
But anything else on a quad cane, Bob?
- Tips can wear out.
I mean, tips can wear out on a regular cane tips.
The way I always check a cane
well probably it's not as part of these because maybe I
go when we go on into these canes, but I always test a cane.
I don't know if you do the same thing, Brad
but when the tips start to wear I push down.
Have to see that it's it's catchy.
- Right.
- Cause a lot of times you hit it.
They'll just slide away on you.
- When the rubber on the tip gets old.
They're sliding rubber.
- Yeah, exactly.
Probably not as important on these
because you do have the four base.
- Right.
- But you still want to, to grip
but you'll see if you look at them close
they'll wear through and then you got metal point
- and then they really get slippery.
- Yeah.
- They just as rubber ages.
- Exactly.
- All right.
So then we're going just
to the regular standard cane, right?
Brad?
- Yep.
The old standard cane
- round base.
- Some of 'them are I, oh, sorry.
Did you have a whole ah, this, yeah.
The traditional cane is a cane like this
except for their wood.
I don't have a wood one here
but they are wood and it's the hook cane looks
like the shepherds are very common.
These are the kind that you'll see from great grandpa.
Then it's kinda a handy,
- you got to cut them off.
- Yeah. If it's wood, you cut off.
And if you've got a metal one and it's too tall
you can cut those off.
Use a pipe cutter.
They work excellent.
They use a nice rounded radius and you can put the tip back
on you, pull it off, cut it off.
You can use the hacksaw off.
- Remember measure twice.
- Cut once.
- Exactly. And the other thing is you can
you can always cut it off, but you can't cut it on.
So I, so like in this case, this one's too short for me.
It has to be up somewhere in this range.
Obviously. No good for me hanging
on the wall and use it for souvenir.
So that's your standard hook cane.
Now let's go to the more modern hook cane.
Well, the other thing I'd like to do
with the cane Bob is I go like this.
- Aren't you something?
- It's like Fred Stair.
Anyways, let's go to the next one.
Okay. Now this very popular design right now
but the handle comes up and it's a horizontal grasp.
They got whole thing on here for your wrist.
If you can put it that way
and the adjustment on these are all the same.
Now these, they do almost always have a threaded knob here
a thumb screw.
So once you get it adjusted
to the right height, that's about right.
Then you tighten that down.
If you don't tighten it down, they always
they make noise and they plant it here, tighten it down.
Just your fingers, all you need.
And that's your standard grip.
You got the hook, you got your straight grip.
And I like this one.
- Yeah, I do too.
- The pistol grip.
Okay. It's pistol grip.
Cause it looks like a pistol.
You know, you got grandchildren that are going
to play with it a little bit.
Make sure they're careful.
But everything is the same
on a pistol grip, a height adjustment, check your tip.
- Very comfortable handle.
- Yeah. It's more ergonomic.
Some people really like that.
And, and you, if you go to the store
you'll find other varieties too.
They make some variety that has a real wide base.
And I like that.
- Yeah.
- Some people get problems with their palm.
They get that, that medial nerve it's irritated
because they're putting so much pressure on there.
So they need more surface area.
And you'll find those in the, usually the drug stores.
They have a variety of canes.
- Different color canes.
- Oh they make pretty ones.
I mean, these are boring compared to the colors ones.
They have
they can have ones look like this tie, the Garcia tie.
And I'm not kidding you.
They look as nice as this tie and it's fun.
It's fun to go shopping.
- Yeah they are.
I want to say about canes in general,
a lot of people are reluctant as they get older
to as a can because that, because of their pride
the stigma and, and the thing is, I said, what, what is
is it better to limp along like this?
Yeah. And go, I really, you know, I don't want to use a cane
or is it better to use a cane
and be more stable like this?
I mean, you know, people think they look younger.
- Yeah.
- Doing this then they do with a cane?
- Right. So now the other big question
and this is something that bothers me because
of that show called House is which hand you use the cane in.
- Sure.
- Okay. If you watch a movie Dr.
House, he's got a right leg, that's better left.
I don't know.
And he's got the cane in the same,
- same side
- almost always 95% of the time
if your right side is the bad side, you put the cane
in the opposite.
- It's gonna look more natural.
- Right.
- And then because when you see House walking
he is he's going like this as opposed to
if he had it on the opposite side and he put the walker
I mean the cane
with the like he would have almost whole wall.
- Yeah. I want to call the director in my head.
I don't even watch it because
that's the way it is.
- dramatic effect
- I don't like the cane.
I like him either.
But anyways, anything else on canes, Bob?
- I think that's it.
- All right.
Thank you.